Rowing heads to East Coast

Friday, April 13, 2007

The Kansas rowing team is ready for some confused looks when it travels to the East Coast this weekend.

“Usually we get, ‘You’re from Kansas. There’s water there?’ ” junior rower Annie Sims said.

Even random people in the airport have questioned whether the team had water to practice on in the past, senior rower Tiffany Jeffers said.

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The East Coast mentality of rowing is really competitive, and it’s nice to get a taste of that.

senior coxswain Samira Naji

“Obviously we do,” she said.

Coach Rob Catloth said the “geographical misconception” provided humorous motivation for the team as it prepared for the Knecht Cup on Saturday and Sunday in Camden, N.J.

Sims said the regatta was an opportunity for the rowers to dispel the myths that a school from Kansas couldn’t possibly have a good rowing team.

Kansas’ 12-year-old rowing program will race against long-established and recognized programs from across the country, including Gonzaga, whose varsity eight boat got votes in this week’s U.S. Rowing Poll.

Senior coxswain Samira Naji said the team was ready to race against teams from outside the Midwest.

“The East Coast mentality of rowing is really competitive, and it’s nice to get a taste of that,” senior coxswain Samira Naji said.

More than 50 schools will compete at the Knecht Cup. Kansas will race against three to five boats in each race and have to advance through preliminary races to reach the grand finals.

The large field — 29 first varsity eight boats will compete in five heats — will allow Kansas the opportunity to match up with teams that don’t race in the Midwest.

“It will be a good test of where we are because we haven’t had any big races,” Jeffers said.

Larger races tend to be more exciting and faster because there’s more competition, she said, but there’s also more to pay attention to.

Catloth said this weekend’s races could set the tone for the rest of the season.

“It’s still an early-season race, but we need to use all the races we have this week to improve and come back calm after this race as a more seasoned team,” Catloth said.

The team practiced in back-up boats Thursday because the competition boats had already left for New Jersey on a trailer.

Kansas last traveled to the Knecht Cup in 2005. The Jayhawks’ varsity four boat won its grand finals race, and three other boats placed second in grand finals races.

Kansan sportswriter Catherine Odson can be contacted at codson@kansan.com.

— Edited by Will McCullough

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